28 Jan 2006 @ 17:50, by Raymond Powers
This is from Patricia Aburdene the auther of Megatrends.
Quotes from "Megatrends 2010":
The seven new Megatrends:
1. The Power of Spirituality
2. The Dawn of Conscious Capitalism
3. Leading From the Middle
4. Spirituality in Business
5. The Values-Driven Consumer
6. The Wave of Conscious Solutions
7. The Socially Responsible Investment Boom
"Megatrends 2010 explores the quest for morals and meaning in
business within the legal confines of modern capitalism, a world
where public firms are bound by law to maximize shareholder return.
What is both remarkable and largely unheralded, however, is that
corporate morality often correlates with superior performance. In
other words, plenty of `good guys' are trouncing the Standard &
Poors (S&P) 500!" (p. xxiii)
"Business does not possess the power to prevent people from
transforming. Yet there's little wonder why we think it does! The
business world often portrayed on CNBC and in `The Wall Street
Journal' boasts, not just a single-minded passion for turning a
buck, but unmatched devotion to assassinating any high-minded ideal
that might get in the way.
"Well, guess what? Mainstream business is under siege, from
activists and regulators, as expected, but even from investors. And
all the barricades in the world cannot prevent it. Because the most
dangerous adversary of all a transformed individual lies within
and we are IT. Whether spiritual CEO, activist middle manager or
visionary entrepreneur, we've opened our minds and expanded our
hearts and there is no shutting either of them down." (p. 3)
"What business leaders need more than anything else is exactly what
Spirit offers: The power of self-mastery. Self-knowledge and
personal mastery, the fruits of spiritual practice, are also key to
the worldly pursuits of leadership, high performance, power. Yet,
self-mastery is sorely missing in business (not to mention
politics). The failure of self-mastery is often the downfall of
leadership. And the most reliable route to self-mastery is personal
spiritual discipline reflection, journaling, meditation the sort
of activity designed to force busy, stressed-out, Type A people to
sit still and simple be. True, spiritual practice will lift your
consciousness and bring you closer to the Divine but there's a
mundane benefit as well: the clear thinking it nurtures will prevent
you from making costly mistakes!" (p. 131)
Patricia Aburdene is a world-renown speaker, best-selling author and
passionate advocate of corporate transformation. Coauthor of four
previous Megatrends books, Patricia has addressed business audiences
throughout the world. Her 25-year career in business journalism
began at Forbes magazine. In recognition for Megatrends for Women,
she was appointed public policy fellow at Radcliff College, where
she explored emerging models of leadership. Patricia later embarked
on new studies integrating business research and spirituality. She
now inspires audiences with a concrete blueprint of how values,
consciousness and leadership will heal modern capitalism. Patricia
holds three honorary doctorates and received the Medal of Italy in
1990 for her interpretation of global trends. She resides in
Cambridge, Massachusetts and Telluride, Colorado.
|
|